K.Mandla's blog of Linux experiences

So depressing

I didn’t do anything to deserve this, meaning it wasn’t dropped or smacked into a door frame or something.

I had noticed a tiny hairline crack creeping around that hinge mount there, and today when I opened the case there was a terrifying splintering noise.

It looks like someone stabbed it with a box cutter. :(

Very depressing, really. This is the machine I bought almost three years ago in a recycling shop on the other side of the island, at what seemed like a rather trivial price, for what I was getting.

At first I thought this wouldn’t affect its function, but now I’m not so sure. The hinges and screen must be torquing the motherboard or power connections, because now when I try to push in a USB drive, power drops immediately. That top picture is the last one I have with the power working alongside USB.

The smaller irony here is that I had an inkling that I might give this one away in the near future. It has a legitimate Windows ME serial number, even if that’s something of a curse.

The thought was that any of the machines I keep as “spares” could probably take over the two or three jobs this one does, and this could possibly work for someone else as a fully functional machine.

That’s just impossible now. It’s visibly damaged and behaves badly. Scarred machines don’t have much appeal, even when the price is zero yen.

I guess I’ll keep using it for as long as I can suffer to look at it, in its new, battered state. Things like that just make you feel bad though. :(

ah kmandla i’m sure its had a full and meaning full life regardless of the outcome. maybe you’ll luck out on some parts or a donor machine thinkpad parts are probably easier to find than other makes… good luck!

My first option would be to see if I could find either the part or a donor machine. Failing, there, I would consider a KLUDGE repair.

The KLUDGE would not be pretty, but it would allow it to continue to be used. From the photos, here is my thought for a KLUDGE. First thing to do is to see if you have enough room to put two to three screws through the screen bezel and the lid (including one through the Hinge). If so, then get two metal strips of reasonable strength, one for the bezel side and one for the top of the lid side. Then figure out your hole placements, mark and drill. Now, put your screws through the metal strips and the lid/screen assembly, the heads of the screws should be on the screen side. Apply nuts and washers to the other side and tighten enough to bring things back together and just a tinch more and quit.

It would be ugly, but should spread the stress and allow you to continue to use it.

I hate to see usable equipment end its life for something so trivial. Good luck.